All posts tagged ‘work’

I would never eat off my floors. There’s always that person you know, and friends declare, “Her house is so clean you could eat off her floors.” I am not that person.

I have a dog, a cat, and a five-year-old, all of whose sole mission in life appears to be trekking as much dirt and debris as possible across the wood floors of our little ranch-style house. Since moving there a year ago, there’s only one time that anyone’s ever bothered to wash the floors. Why? Because there’s so much of it. And honestly, at present being 8 months pregnant, the idea of wrestling with a nasty mop and a bucket throughout the house really isn’t something I relish, even if it does mean getting things clean.

So when I was asked to try out the iRobot Scooba 390, from the fine folks that brought us the Roomba (we have an old Roomba Red we named “Tony Blair”), I was pretty jazzed. See, it isn’t that I don’t want clean floors. It’s that I work full-time and have a certain distaste for doing work that will never be justified in the long run. Honestly, how long can those floors even stay clean in this house?

The iRobot Scooba 390 (whom we’ve nicknamed “David Cameron”) is sleek and simple, a look that’s defined these little automatic cleaners since they first appeared on the market. In fact, at first glance I wondered if it was even possible that such a simple-looking machine could do one of my most hated jobs — and not just on wood floors, but on linoleum as well. It doesn’t hurt that the gray blue stylings make it look like something out of Portal, I should add.

A feature I liked from the get-go was the whole “no sweeping required” angle. My husband Michael and I did a quick pass with the vacuum, however, since it had been some time since we’d done a thorough clean (and with a long-haired cat and a perpetually shedding dog, we didn’t want to start it off with an unfair disadvantage). We followed the rest of the directions, which are pretty straightforward: add the enzymatic cleaner and water to the tank, replace the tank, position the robot, and let it go (after removing chairs and things, as per usual, though it’s smart enough to go around them).

That was the question from my youngest son this weekend. Granted, it came after his request to go somewhere that we were not able to go; however, the question has been rattling ’round my brain since Saturday afternoon.

Chargin' up the wii-motes. Photo by Russ Neumeier

The question – “Dad, why do you work so much?” came as we were driving from one of the many stops we had that day. We’d been to a few places, had a few more errands to run, and all my son wanted to do was to go fishing at a pond near our house. The question came as he asked to go fishing (having just passed the pond while driving in the van) and after my response listing the many reasons both Saturday and Sunday would not work for fishing. Continue Reading “Dad, Why Do You Work So Much?” »

Take Your Child to Work Day is fast approaching — April 22 will be upon us before you know it. Chances are, your place of employment is already making plans to host and entertain more than the usual number of immature people who show up for work every day.

We can think of one certain parent who won’t be taking either of his kids to work on that day (assuming this particular air traffic controller is reinstated by then). But there are plenty of occupations that don’t “show” well, aren’t kid-friendly and, frankly, like a sausage factory or how a bill becomes law, nobody needs to see.

Here are GeekDad’s Top 10 jobs that should not host a Take Your Child to Work Day:

9) “Adult” industries
Pretty much anywhere you’re taking your clothes off for money. Unless you like hearing “Why are those women kissing each other?” and “Hey — that’s not my Dad [expletive deleted] my Mom!” or — well, you get the idea. (hat-tip Matt Blum)

8.) Coal miner
Most young kids are afraid of the dark. Do you really want to subject them to being dropped hundreds of feet underground for hours and hours? (hat-tip Matt Blum)

7) Taxi driver
Of course, maybe you like fielding such comments as “Dad, this guy smells funny,” or “Why did he just give you the finger?” or exposing your kid to such banter as “Get off the phone when you’re driving!” or “Sure I can make change for a fifty. I’ve got pennies, dimes, and nickels.”